Simon Scott is, of course, the drummer in recently reconstituted shoegazers Slowdive. He has though had a long, separate career as a master of ambient bliss-outs, and here returns to Taylor Deupree's esteemed 12K label for a collaboration with friend, fellow ambient explorer and multidisciplinary artist&nbs...view item »

Gareth Dickson is a long-term collaborator of Vashti Bunyan’s and a deep-reaching songwriter / musician in his own right. Orwell Court is his fourth full-length solo album, continuing his path of quiet, private sounding music. These are songs for voice and folk guitar, but the rich layers of produ...view item »

Twine is the second instalment in Marcus Fischer’s collaboration with Taylor Deupree. It’s a pretty minimal creature, with the backbone of the music formed from just 2 manipulated tape loops, then augmented with acoustic instruments. Subtle sonics that put the listener right there in the stu...view item »

Kenneth Kirschner is a New Yorker who is known for his challenging and lengthy neo-classical compositions. Compressions And Rarefactions contains a download with 5 hours of additional material that couldn’t be fully explored when confined within the CD format. Kirschner is stretching the possibili...view item »

Shuttle358 throws out this new LP of droning ambience, sourcing its sounds from mellotron, piano strings, subtle guitar and a dabbling of field recordings. Can You Prove I Was Born is a calm and melancholy trip, the first in quite some time from this artist. 500 copies of 180g vinyl, heavy card sleeve, on 12k Records....view item »

Recorded live at a performance to mark the 10th anniversary of The Yamaguchi Centre for Arts and Media, ‘Perpetual’ is a first time collaboration between four legendary Japanese musicians Ryuichi Sakamoto, Taylor Deupree and the duo AKA Illuha, Corey Fuller and Tomoyoshi Date. Presented in three movements ranging from layers of soft ...view item »

Although Swiss artist Steinbrüchel has enjoyed several appearances on compilations and collaborative works released on 12K records, ‘Parallel Landscapes’ is his first full length solo album on the label. Beautifully presented in a printed XX page booklet designed by Steinbrüchel, including photographs from Taylor Deupree and an e...view item »

Taylor Deupree's take on the lost-and-found compilation format is a little different: Lost & Compiled rests on the idea that each iteration of a Deupree composition is different based on when and how it was drafted, and so each song has older, more primitive counterparts -- call them test-runs, clones, mut...view item »

The press release goes on for days but all you need to know is that this is a collaboration between Christopher Willits (who produced a pretty sweet album of cloud like ambience recently) and living legend Ryuichi Sakamoto. Here they produce a shimmering soundtrack for the ocean using Sakamoto's processed piano and guitar to produce billowing tu...view item »

Originally released in 2009 by Drifting/Falling records, ‘Collected Recordings’ is a testament to what can be achieved with deliberately limited instrumentation and production. Using only an acoustic guitar, economical vocals and the most tasteful amount of reverb, Gareth Dickson has created a beautifully simplistic ambient folk reco...view item »

I tried to review this album yesterday but it sent me to sleep within less than half an hour. The concept is pretty simple - Janek Schaeffer has been field-recording a motorway lay-by in the middle of the night and now he's made an album based around those recordings. Don't worry, though, it's not just field recordings of the wind blowing and di...view item »

Stephen Vitiello and Taylor Deupree, together at last! Here they are stretched over four 10" sides of captivating meditations full of drones, twinkles and field recordings. The first disc here contains a single piece, 'From The Fish House' parts 1 and 2. Its name is more literal than you may expect - this was recorded at a place called the "Fi...view item »

I'm late getting this in so no waffle from me. No waffle at all. This Norwegian duo specialise in some of the lushest, strangest ambient sound-scapes I've had the pleasure to indulge in, certainly one of the most interesting acts on Taylor Deupree's 12k stable. I listen to their last for the label, 'Sval', a ...view item »

Here's my final review of the week and it's a difficult one! Not because the music is unpleasant, it truly isn't, but simply because there isn't much happening here. This is highly tasteful minimal ambience. There are some smooth drones, some graceful Budd-esque piano slowness, some humming, flickering electronic drones, some quaveringly physi...view item »

Here’s an album of delicate breathy glitchpop from Moskitoo on 12K, a label which generally deals in the more ambient/minimal/sound arty side of things so as you might imagine this is finely detailed and quite understated stuff, with gently pulsing, twinking and glistening synths cut nervous melodies over which sh...view item »

The tale behind Seaworthy (Cameron Webb) and Taylor Deupree's first full length collaboration goes that Webb was flown away from a baking Australian summer and plunged into the depths of wintertime New York's Pound Ridge nature reserve. Together with Deupree they would reco...view item »

Interstices is Illuha's second album for 12k and is the product of refining live performance; exploring, deconstructing and reconstructing ideas and sounds. The results are three pieces from the duo of Tomoyoshi Date and Corey Fuller. Opener 'Interstices II' is a see...view item »

This latest from German composer Marsen Jules is an epic 47 minute piece of a lulling drone that really challenges the listener, warm tones flow like lava that give you an almost drowning like sensation, with other similar minimal ambient artists like Mountains and ...view item »

Here on 12k is the latest collaboration between Savvas Ysatis and Taylor Deupree. I never noticed how lovely 12k’s inner sleeves were but this one is logo-embossed and has a plastic lining too. That’s well...view item »

I wasn't aware Taylor Deupree had been releasing ambient music for two decades now or that his esteemed 12k imprint has been operational since 1997. His first CD for this burgeoning sound-art stable under his old 'Human Mesh Dance' alias has sold fo...view item »

Now I remember liking this chaps gear last time I heard it. That ‘Contrail’ single he did a while back was lovely! Sublunar is his first album proper after a joint collab with Library Tapes honcho David Wenngren...view item »

The last thing I heard by this guy was the Remain CD on Line which was one of the most intense things I’ve heard. It proper blew me away! Here’s a rare CD single by him on the 12k label (who also don’t do singles that much. This came out as a stupidly expensive vinyl ...view item »

This CD has a head-scratchingly complex concept which I’m struggling to get my head around in the short time I have to write this review, but it is themed around the East Anglian Fens. Sometimes it’s got some processed twinkly guitar drifting, sometimes there’s piano t...view item »

The Boats are a bit of an office favourite here at the towers most likely due to the Hood connection. That's right, The Boats feature the talents of Craig Tattersall (ex-Hood, The Remote Viewer, and owner of the Cotton Goods label) as well as Andrew Hargreaves of the Tape Loop Orchestra. ...view item »

Ooh, this is lovely. On this 7” Solo Andata's Kane Ikin has astonishingly managed to fit more than 20 minutes of gorgeous relaxing droney ambience. There's mournful swelling chords over measured twinkles on piano and guitar, with field recordings low in the mix completing the pictu...view item »

Gareth Dickson has been in the wars of late. After packing his bags and taking he big step of moving to Argentina with the promise of companionship awaiting him Dickson has since been shot at, bitten by dogs and nearly killed in a plane crash. Luckily he survived intact and is now packing...view item »

Peters and Roden have been toying with the idea of putting out a 'vocal' album since they toured together with vocalist Anna Homler back in 1995. After pondering the project for some time the duo finally settled on a thematic idea and set to work translating that idea into music. The res...view item »

This set of four tracks was recorded as part of the New Aesthetics In Computer Music project at the music research center in the University of York. I'm fairly sure he has a pretty nice studio so why fly across the pond to become an artist in residence? Well, this differs from Taylor's previous work as he has really taken advantage of the facili...view item »

This duo from Tokyo recorded this album in a church in the United States. The warmth of the acoustics are clearly evident in these emotional and minimal neoclassical compositions where they play a wide variety of instruments with grace and subtlety. The bit I'm listening to right now soun...view item »

Is it just me or is this kind of music a little odd for the seven inch format? With drone music and subtle sound art such as featured here I like to be able to get proper horizontal and gradually go to sleep listening to these deep, esoteric shimmers and fuzzy waves of sound. I don't wan...view item »

Twenty Ten is a mammoth three disc set. With so much audio and little time to delve into the set in great depth I'll attempt a brief overview. The track titles simply refer to dates in the year, beginning with January 4, 2011. This piece was created with xylophones and Metallophones acquired from a local school. ...view item »

As expected, outstanding audio here from Mr Mathieu, created using early 78rpm records, mechanical-acoustic gramophones and computers. Based on that kind of setup, an affinity with the work of Philip Jeck would be a fair assumption and also correct as in many ways 'A Static Place' ev...view item »

Pretty much everything I've heard on this label has been great. Though I've only really heard the last 10-15 releases they've all been super high quality. I like that. I've not heard of this guy before but this is his 3rd release for the label (after Letter of Sounds and his debut Air Curtain). I like that... Air Curtain. Anyway, on first listen...view item »

The stuff I know of this fella is the more ambient drone gear. I wasn't expecting the mad fractured rhythms from the off. All the songs are constructed (and named) using everyday household objects eg rubber band, metal rod, tin can etc.... And they're reasonably recognisable. The springiness of 'Rubber Band' is bizarrely enjoyable. It's like a m...view item »

This is a new project from Swedish duo Ylva Wiklund and David Wenngren of Library Tapes. Wiklund provides vocals, apparently some were recorded using mobile phone to add a ghostly lo-fi feel. They sound great actually; both fragile and spooky, delicately floating among shifting layers of tonal melancholy. This is quite different for Wenngren, so...view item »

Here's a rather lovely sounding CD on Taylor Deupree's 12K label and as the title may suggest to you it is live in Japan! The above 5 artists played in a couple of temples in Tokyo and the results are presented to you here on this lovely compact disc. Well not the whole thing but you get snippets from each performance and it sounds lovely. Elect...view item »

This one kicks off with some water sounding all watery. Then on the next track there's some kinda majestic droney bits. The third one's got some processed guitar bits which are my favourite bits so far.. More nice droney bits come in and go over the top of the guitar bits really nicely.. And then some field recording waterfall-sounding bits join...view item »

Solo Andata are from Australia and have apparently had their sounds featured on a Calvin Klein 'Obsession' commercial. Now, I know little about these pricey designer scents apart from the tasty aromas I secrete in my various bodily cavities that I doubt would appeal to 99.9% of the human race (but may attract the odd stray woodland creature or devi...view item »

12K release a lot of quality albums and here's another. I've not heard of Marcus Fischer before but he's a sound artist from somewhere or other and this is an album of found sounds, hisses, field recordings, acoustic instruments, tape loops and warm sounding layers of varying tomfoolery which are inspired by Fischer's movements up and down the W...view item »

'1897' is the latest installment of minimalist soundscapes from Australian nerdo noise composer Cameron Webb a.k.a 'Seaworthy'. Webb has spent a significant number of years perfecting his subtle combination of minimalist composition and found sounds and approaches the subject methodically and confidently. '1897' is a reference to an army ammunition...view item »

12K has been putting out sublime post rock & electronica/sound art for years now, but rarely do they venture into the divine world of waxxx. Savvas Ysatis + Taylor Deupree spent a week in Taylor's studio throwing ideas around like a pair of maniacs, endeavouring to produce a 12" EP. It's a sweetie too, some tracks falling into the realm of...view item »

Phil has put some neo-goth nonsense on the stereo so I've decamped to headphone heaven to peruse the contents of this here CD on 12k. Pjusk is a Norwegian duo specialising in brittle, arctic glitchscapes & frosty dark ambient moods. I can sense a comradeship with the old guard such as Biosphere in these deep isolatory tones, manipulated foun...view item »

Japanese outfit Minamo have a disc out on 12k which is a really pleasant electro-acoustic album, created using more analogue than digital processing than their previous works. The magic here is really the subtle use of effects and post-production that doesn't smother the original organic elements but allows them to breathe and find space. The guita...view item »

After struggling to remove the digipak from its slipcase I'm finally able to play 'In Light' by Small Color. It's out on 12k which is a pretty reliable imprint (although I must admit I'm no expert on the catalogue) but this sounds very different to the material I'm used to hearing from the label. I guess this is basically very gentle sounding, deli...view item »

The latest 12K release to land here is 'The Gorilla Variations' from Molly Berg + Stephen Vitiello. The story behind this release is that the pair were asked to provide audio for a video instillation that featured a lonely gorilla in a zoo. This CD features the improvised audio that would eventually be edited for the installation. As you can imagin...view item »

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